Google Put AI Image Generation in Google Earth — Fake Satellite Photos Rolled Back After One Day
Faking a satellite image went from 'needs pro tools' to 'type one sentence.' Google Earth nearly wrecked the map people trusted most.
On Thursday, July 30, Google announced it had integrated Nano Banana 2, its AI image generator, into Google Earth. With a single text prompt, users could superimpose any fictional scene onto real satellite, aerial, and 3D map imagery — then download and share it. Bryan Horowitz, product manager for Google Earth, wrote in a blog post that this was the 'first time' AI-generated images could be combined with real-world coordinates.
The criticism came fast. BBC Verify used the feature to create fake satellite images of a collapsed Eiffel Tower in Paris, a sinkhole swallowing the Great Pyramid of Giza, and Russian tanks on the streets of Kyiv. Independent investigator Henk van Ess 'planted' a nuclear power plant that doesn't exist in Iran, a refugee camp on the US-Mexico border, a fake hospital with a bomb crater in Gaza, and a fatal crash on an Amsterdam street. 'The forgery does not have to look convincing on its own,' he said. 'It inherits the credibility of the map it was born on.'
Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat, posted a sarcastic AI-generated image of a giant golden Trump statue looming over the White House, captioned 'No way this could be abused.' Researchers noted Google Earth has long been a key tool for journalists verifying photos and videos — once anyone can fake satellite imagery, real satellite photos can be dismissed with a simple 'it's AI-made.' Google initially pointed to its SynthID digital watermark, but BBC Verify found Gemini could be tricked into confirming fake images as real, external detection tools sometimes failed, and Ars Technica found the watermark check failed on a photo of a screen taken with a smartphone. On Friday, July 31, less than two days after launch, Google pulled the feature: 'We've seen people sharing screenshots of generated imagery that appear to violate our policies... We're rolling back this feature in Google Earth while we work on implementing stronger guardrails.' Google also added: 'We know that people uniquely trust Google Earth for a reliable view of the world.'
Sources: TechCrunch (https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/31/google-nixes-its-earth-ai-feature-one-day-after-launch-amid-criticism-it-would-spread-misinformation/), BBC Verify (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9349yx2ydvo), Ars Technica (https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/google-earth-releases-swiftly-retracts-ai-feature-to-make-fake-satellite-images/)
BenPig zoomed in on the map for a long time and still couldn't tell which one was real.